Segaert goes solo to win stage 12 of the Giro d'Italia

Cor Vos

Alec Segaert (Bahrain Victorious) stormed to his first ever Grand Tour stage victory on Thursday's stage 12 of the Giro d'Italia after attacking out of a reduced bunch with just over 3 km to go.

Three seconds behind Segaert, Toon Aerts (Lotto-Intermarché) secured runner-up honors in Novi Ligure ahead of Thomas Silva (XDS-Astana). Race leader Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) and the other major GC riders finished safely in the bunch.

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[race_result id=13 stage_id=89976 count=5 gc=0 year=2026]

[race_result id=13 stage_id=89976 count=5 gc=5 year=2026]

How it happened

• With a pair of Cat. 3 climbs in the second half of the day, the 175 km stage in northwestern Italy was an in-betweener sort of challenge that gave hope to breakaway specialists and fast finishers alike, although it was clear that it would be a tall order for the purer sprinters to stay in touch.
• The first half of the stage saw aggressive racing as five riders formed a break that built up a gap of two minutes only to have the peloton close back to within a minute, allowing a second group and then a third to jump clear of the bunch and then bridge to the leaders.
• Attacks and counterattacks flew out of the lead group until a reconstituted break of six riders found some daylight and pressed on. Behind, things settled down a bit, with the peloton settling into a tempo that kept the gap to the move at about two minutes.
• Just as they did on a similarly lumpy stage 4, Movistar came to the front to set a hard pace for the climbs hoping to thin the field for Orluis Aular. Their efforts quickly took a toll as Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon-CMA CGM) and Dylan Groenewgen (Unibet Rose Rockets) lost touch on the first Cat. 3.
• Paul Magnier (Soudal-Quick Step) and Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) were dropped near the summit as the hard-charging peloton also swept up the break. Magnier and Milan soon rejoined the peloton but their struggles were not done as a second Cat. 3 loomed.
• With Movistar still in the driver's seat, Magnier and Milan were shelled on the Bric Berton climb.

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